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System Shock remake
- lofaszvanitt 3y ago[flagged]
- qbasic_forever 3y agoI played the original on my 486dx2 50mhz back in the day and IMHO the remake is extremely faithful and much more enjoyable. The keyboard controls of the original are not great--it was well before people figured out good 3d game controls with mouse and wasd keys. The original is slow and plodding like you're piloting a battlemech. The remake is much easier and more natural to control.
- lofaszvanitt 3y ago[flagged]
- falcor84 3y agoWhy? From what I understand, it's an extremely faithful remake with just better graphics and slightly better UX.
- lofaszvanitt 3y agoYou haven't played the original, I'm sure of it.
- bastardoperator 3y agoI have, this remake is better. The mouse controls aren't completely insane and the graphics are 100x better...
- lofaszvanitt 3y agoYou have a fond memory of something, and then someone does a REMAKE. A classic or perfect thing doesn't need a remake, because almost all the time the shiny version will be subpar. Just look at classic movies from the 30s or 60s. Almost all the time the remakes are laughingstock like attempts at recreating the original. Just leave the originals alone. If you don't have the nerves for playing a very old game in an emulator and doesn't enjoy it because the visuals are not appealing, then just play something else. Or name your project XYZ and then tell in interviews that you asked for permission to copy everything and now call it project XYZ. The trajectory will be: - look we have created system shock remake - look this is our new game, you know us, we made the system shock remake... It's like raise dead+necrophilia that results in some new abomination later on :D.
- fknorangesite 3y ago> Just leave the originals alone. They did. It still exists for you. They haven't Ruined Your Childhood™. Get a grip.
- lofaszvanitt 3y agoThey didn't ruin it. They made something that resembles System Shock and it is called System Shock, but it's not System Shock anymore. All I say is play the original (there is the enhanced version), then play this one, then talk about it.
- Apocryphon 3y agoSystem Shock 2 is better than the original.
- lofaszvanitt 3y agoThey are both masterpieces.
- qbasic_forever 3y ago
- cupofjoakim 3y agoWhy? In what way is it better than through your personal nostalgia?
- lofaszvanitt 3y agoYou also haven't played the original.
- ChrisClark 3y agoWhy are you not engaging and answering questions about why you think it's better? Instead you just shutdown conversation. I have played both, the remake is better. You've obviously never played this remake.
- lofaszvanitt 3y agoI have my reasons... no offense.
- ykonstant 3y agoYes offense. You keep posting shitty one liners making assumptions (truly putting the ass in assumption, in fact) about the people you are replying to, and then when asked about your own, you write some comically adolescent "I have my reasons... turns around mysteriously with cape floating in the wind" bullshit. So take your head out of your fucking ass and be specific. Oh, and yes, I, posting from my eponymous account, have indeed played and finished the original System Shock.
- lofaszvanitt 3y ago[flagged]
- JPws_Prntr_Fngr 3y agoGun holder, if you can read this, please, make him stop posting.
- Analemma_ 3y agoNah, this is one case where nostalgia is not productive or true. The original System Shock looked like ass— and I don't just mean the quality of the graphics, I mean all the useless junk that you can't get rid of in the interface— and the control scheme was insane, as you'd expect from that early period where game designers were still figuring out how FPS controls worked. Play the remake: it is faithful except where it fixes decisions in the original that were genuinely bad.
- lofaszvanitt 3y agoThat pixelated graphics fueled your fantasy. Btw there is an enhanced edition with 1024x graphics...
- busterarm 3y agoFor me it perpetuated all of the horrible design decisions that I hated in the original. At least I finished this one, but it was a slog and most sections of the game were not enjoyable for me. For me, System Shock was always a game with great ideas and great character but horrendous execution. Even back then the people touting the game always seemed like they were talking more about the atmosphere of the game than its actual gameplay. In that same year, we were playing Doom II, TIE Fighter, Warcraft, X-COM and Master of Magic. I left out Arena because like System Shock, it was also super jank, especially on release. System Shock was a niche game that most gamers only discovered years later.
- revolvingocelot 3y agoYes! Well, not exactly: play the Enhanced Edition [0], which modernizes only the mouselook, keyboard controls, and compatibility, but leaves all other aspects unchanged. Frankly, there's even value in the actual original version, in that the alien control scheme really makes one feel as though one's piloting some sort of unwieldy vehicle. It's ludonarratively consonant with the hacker-main-character struggling with the military-grade neural hardware he received in exchange for jailbreaking SHODAN, and kicking off the story. The remake version does away with a bunch of weapons, and rejiggers inventory to be in the style of System Shock 2 which utilized a grid, a la Diablo or any number of others These are minor changes, but they really repulse me. The original could easily deal out "unbalanced" or unusual encounters because of the incredible variety and amount of inventory cruft one would collect -- grenades, drugs, all the different ammo types. [0] https://www.gog.com/en/game/system_shock_enhanced_edition https://www.gog.com/en/game/system_shock_enhanced_edition
- lofaszvanitt 3y agoBingo.
- dfan 3y agoI am one of the developers of the original game and I would not want to play it in 2023.
- andrewstuart 3y agoI really wanted to like System Shock but the controls made it unplayable pretty much. A pity as it was not long at all until “mouse look” was developed by other games, an innovation which would have solved much of System Shocks control problems.
- nolok 3y agoThey invented or perfected so many things that were way ahead of their time, from the free world navigation, to the fully configurable difficulty level, to all the world interactions and the implants and ... But alas controls was not in that list, and like you said that game came just a wee bit too early to avoid the pre-quake era control trainwreck of FPS trying to be more complicated than Doom. Loved it, absolutely unique and infinitely fun, but damn did it need a remake for that alone.
- programd 3y agoMan, this is why I love HN. Come on dfan, you can't leave us hanging like that. Why would you not want to play it in 2023? We want specifics!
- nolok 3y agoNot parent, but because the control scheme was terrible ? It's a game that was made when advanced on the edge control system like mouse look were not really invented yet for FPS, and its "cyberworld" was horrible. I once got blocked inside a tetris game played in my in-game implant and couldn't figure out how to get back to the main ui, it was way too advanced in ideas for the controls it had. Also the graphics are really showing their age, frankly. The original is on gog, including an "enhanced" version that improve it vastly, and I love this game with a passion, have been since its release, but it's a horrible game to manipulate in 2023. Given this remake is faithful to the core ideas of the game, and most reviews says so, it's a no brainer which one you should play.
- nine_k 3y agoThe original is worth playing. It does not mean that a remake is not worth playing! (If you have the time, of course.)
- JPws_Prntr_Fngr 3y agoI've upvoted you solely to increase visibility for the developer you provoked (and who made you look like an asshat). In the future, either post better, or somehow try to post another legendarily shitty thread to provoke more ancient devs.
- lofaszvanitt 3y ago[flagged]
- adeon 3y agoThe old System Shock was the first 3D game I played in my life. I was a kid and could not read English and did not understand what's going but had tons of fun. I played the remake recently. I was decent, but I think it was _too_ faithful to the original in some ways: - There's lots of junk items with (almost) no purpose that you can pick up. - Buttons are often difficult to see on walls; you might skip an area because you thought you cannot progress because you couldn't tell there's a button from clutter - Enemy AI is very simple and easy to exploit. Combat can feel a bit dull, because it's mostly the same kind of combat as the 1994. - Inventory management UX could use some work. I found popping up the menu annoying. - Large complicated maps, sometimes can feel a bit empty and comes with lots of backtracking. I kinda enjoy that though. I liked the remake, and that the story and puzzles were faithful but I wonder if someone who wasn't a fan of the original would find it appealing. This might be a "where the hell do I go" game for anyone who hasn't played it before. SHODAN's voice acting and over-the-top megalomaniac lines are a reason alone to play this thing. Also I wished they had remixed or brought back the old soundtrack. The only place where I heard a hint of the original music was on the reactor level with the unusual bass line. It was my favorite track. Reactor level music in the original (loud warning): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=up80FfzySFA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=up80FfzySFA New reactor level music from the remake: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cxku9cbIcMQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cxku9cbIcMQ
- gloryjulio 3y agoThe backers revolted when they revealed that there were too many changes. So the developers reverted many in order to be faithful. That's why it works like this
- adeon 3y agoUgh, I wonder if they made it worse. Do you know a link where I can read what kind of things were rolled back?
- colechristensen 3y agoIs the kind of thing where no matter what you do there is going to be a sizable group of unhappy people.
- cubefox 3y ago> This might be one of the best remakes ever made. High praise for what was already described as one of the best games of its time.
- dvngnt_ 3y agothis year the game and other unreal engine games should be vr compatible the VR developer just had a breakthrough which makes games 6dof compatible https://youtu.be/7naAVTGp7mM https://youtu.be/7naAVTGp7mM
- tibbydudeza 3y agoSystem Shock and the very underrated Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri.
- senectus1 3y ago>Terra Nova: Strike Force Centauri ohh man I remember that! good times :-D
- tibbydudeza 3y agoSadly sales did not match the effort - was one of the reasons that Looking Glass closed shop :(.
- shmerl 3y agoI like it, but I don't think pixelated aesthetic of zoomed in textures is really doing anything for me. May be it's just a nostalgia nod to hardcore fans of the original game?
- badsectoracula 3y agoFWIW i've played the original game several times and i don't like the pixelated textures either.
- lordfrito 3y agoLook at you hackers... I'm surprised at some of the negative comments here. The dev team did an amazing job of balancing the old with the new. Too much emphasis on the new and you alienate the fanbase, too much emphasis on the old and you miss out on the opportunities afforded by modern hardware and UI advancements. I for one loved it. The world felt familiar to me, like visiting an old friend that had aged well. I forgot how much I enjoyed SS2 back in the day, and this game re-kindled my love for the franchise. Hearing SHODAN again after all of these years is worth the price of admission alone. Here's to hoping this game does well enough to revive interest in making more games in this universe.
- Loughla 3y agoBingo. You nailed it. I didn't know it existed until the steam sale and it popped up. I was super pumped. SS2 is a formative memory for me. It was so different and edgy and scary that it left a real imprint on my brain. The new release scratches that itch, and I loved it. I've fallen off of gaming as I get older and have more responsibilities, but I'm finding time for this game.
- justsomehnguy 3y agoI still remember how I was listening to some audio log and then suddenly I hear 'Run, RUN' and I get a whack on my head and I needed a full two seconds to comperhend what it happened in the computer game before me, not with me. I did't play SSR, and I doubt I will, but I had a great pleasure watching how it came to be and how people reacted to it
- lordfrito 3y ago> SS2 is a formative memory for me. It was so different and edgy and scary that it left a real imprint on my brain. Same. I vividly remember the audio logs of Korenchkin as he gave in to The Many and underwent transformation. Talking about the rapture of the biomass, "something wonderful is happening to me", etc. Finally ends with him addressing me personally and telling me to come visit him on the bridge to "discuss your future".... When I finally got there my mouse hand was literally trembling from fear/anticipation, I had no idea what he had turned into, and after the horrors I'd seen I really didn't want to find out. I still say it's one of the greatest games I ever played.
- PostOnce 3y agoI was going to write a post about how System Shock 3 is in development, but I'm dismayed by some details I found on wikipedia. They had Warren Spector and Paul Neurath on board, but maybe funding isn't so easy. I thought System Shock (remake) was basically a fundraiser for SS3. Apparently Tencent owns the rights now, Spector is working on something else, and the outlook is no longer great. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_Shock_2#Sequel_projects https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_Shock_2#Sequel_projects However, from that page, I also learned this exists: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_Shock_Infinite https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_Shock_Infinite So I guess I'll be playing System Shock Infinite this weekend :)
- lofaszvanitt 3y agoI never understood why big publishers not throwing money at smaller studios and why older game designers are sidelined. Imagine Scorsese not getting funding after Goodfellas... mind boggling. It's like a no brainer. Get Warren Spector on board, give him a black suitcase and order as many strawberry cakes as he want. Let him assemble a small team, and give them 3 years of devtime with an established engine, and 20 hours of gameplay max. Let it roll. Nooo, somehow that's not possible when 200 mill usd AAA games are coming off the assembly line.
- Apocryphon 3y agoAs much as I'd like to see that, Spector's entire output since Thief 3 has been Epic Mickey and consulting for the abysmal crowdfunded Ultima Underworld spiritual successor, and who knows how much involvement he actually had with the latter. As legendary as these game designers are, you can easily see why big publishers would be leery of their ability to reiterate their past success in a completely different modern development environment, after all that time. This is true of other legends as well. Brian Reynolds' entire career for the last decade has been FrontierVille at Zynga; I would not trust him with a new Rise of Nations nor a new Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri. At this point, I'm not sure if anyone could be trusted with those franchises of yesteryear. On the flip side, the fans gave Chris Roberts one of the highest-crowdfunded projects in history and look at the state of Star Citizen. Heck, even Carmack is more interested in VR and other technical challenges than making a new Rage, let alone Doom. At some point you have to let the past go and hope that new designers will rise to the challenge. Hopefully inspired by those legends of the past.
- slowmovintarget 3y agoHeh... I backed this Kickstarter years ago. I got to pick one of the villain names. Great to see it launch.
- kouru225 3y ago^ We got the guy who named SHODAN here
- darthrupert 3y agoI played the original at my prime gaming age, about 15 years old. And I still think it's the best game I've played. This remake is faithful enough that it also is. I skipped the last level (Bridge) but it seems like they changed that quite a bit and I didn't miss much.